Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report. Some personnel news: We’re excited to welcome Sam Skove as FP’s newest staff writer! Sam joins us from Politico, where he covered space, and we’re really glad we had a space for him on our team. (He has also quickly realized that insufferable puns are an occupational hazard of working with us.)
Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: U.S. President Donald Trump’s repurposing of the U.S. military, a new U.S. ambassador to India, and more Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Trump’s Lethal Landscapers
Trump is less than a year into his second term and has already begun radically redefining the role and character of the United States military in ways that his opponents say threaten democracy and undermine national security.
Trump has increasingly used the military as a tool for enforcing his domestic political agenda. He’s deployed thousands of troops along the southern border as part of his aggressive immigration crackdown. Trump has also deployed troops in Los Angeles and Washington—deep-blue cities that have resisted his policies—justifying the moves as necessary responses to unrest and crime. These moves have gone against the wishes of local leaders, who’ve accused Trump of manufacturing crises.
Democrats have denounced the deployments as power grabs and decried Trump as an authoritarian. Military experts, including retired generals, have also condemned the deployments as unwarranted and dangerous—while warning that they hurt troop readiness by reducing their ability to prepare for war and by negatively impacting the public’s perception of the military in a way that could hinder recruitment.
The deployments have also raised legal questions, and the administration’s justifications for them have faced fierce pushback, including in a lawsuit filed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Though Trump has more leeway in Washington, a federal district in which the National Guard is always under the president’s command, experts have still warned that he’s stretching the limits of presidential authority and setting a corrosive precedent that erodes crucial norms regarding the use of the military domestically.
Deployed in D.C. In Washington, Trump has contended that the federal takeover and deployment of the National Guard was needed due to what he’s described as out-of-control crime (despite violent crime being at a 30-year low in the nation’s capital).
While Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has offered somewhat mixed messages on the federal takeover of her city, on Wednesday she condemned the presence of out-of-state National Guard troops—who were sent by GOP governors to boost Trump’s effort—as a poor use of resources. Polling also shows that a majority of Washington residents feel less safe with federal agents and troops—some of whom are now armed—on their streets.
Since being deployed in Washington, National Guard troops have been seen picking up trash and spreading mulch under cherry trees, which doesn’t quite paint a picture of a city so dangerous that there was no choice but to send in the military.
Images of troops performing landscaping duties in the nation’s capital also don’t exactly jibe with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s stated mission of transforming the military into a leaner, more lethal force—and restoring a “warrior ethos.” This objective has seen Hegseth take an array of controversial steps as Pentagon chief, ranging from eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI) to banning transgender troops.
Redefining the mission. Despite concerns over the deployments, Trump appears determined to increase the role of the military in domestic settings. The president has suggested that he could expand these deployments to other U.S. cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and New York City, which are also run by Democrats.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order directing Hegseth to establish specialized National Guard units in Washington and all 50 states that can be quickly deployed to quell civil disturbances. The order also called for Hegseth to ensure the availability of a standing “quick reaction force” in the Guard that can be deployed nationwide for such purposes.
Traditionally, the National Guard has been deployed to help American communities in the wake of natural disasters or to fight enemies abroad. Trump’s executive order raises serious concerns about the potential for the military to be used against U.S. citizens in ways that could violate their rights—particularly given Trump’s history of animosity toward protesters—or place them in physical danger.
There are also legitimate questions to be asked about whether sending the military into more U.S. cities in this capacity is a waste of taxpayer dollars—with the Washington deployment estimated to cost roughly $1 million per day.
Meanwhile, Trump is also mulling over renaming the Defense Department the War Department—the name for the department until not long after World War II. Though Trump can’t formally change the name without an act of Congress, this falls in line with his administration’s fixation on having a military that appears fearsome. The bigger question is whether this obsession with appearances will harm the military’s capabilities in the process.
Let’s Get Personnel
Even as Trump and Hegseth vastly expand the military’s scope, they have overseen a slew of abrupt high-profile Defense Department departures. The latest came on Monday, when Doug Beck, the head of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), suddenly informed employees that it would be his last day. “As far as we have come, we have far more left to do, and are just getting started,” Beck said in an email seen by SitRep, adding that he would “help however I can from my private capacity.” Beck did not provide a reason for his departure, and a DIU spokesperson declined to comment.
Beck’s abrupt resignation came three days after Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The reasons for Kruse’s departure were not immediately clear, but the DIA’s reporting in June that U.S. strikes on Iran had set back the country’s nuclear program by a few months contradicted Trump’s assertion that the program had been obliterated.
Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s recent revocation of 37 intelligence officials’ security clearances reportedly included one of the CIA’s senior-most Russia analysts, whose naming on the list reportedly blindsided the agency itself.
Trump also made a couple of key appointments, naming his head of presidential personnel, Sergio Gor, as ambassador to India. Gor will reportedly be replaced by Trump’s longest-serving aide, Dan Scavino.
In other diplomatic news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Olha Stefanishyna as the country’s new ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, replacing current ambassador Oksana Markarova.
On the Button
What should be high on your radar, if it isn’t already.
Iran sanctions snap back. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom triggered the start of a process to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran on Thursday, a process known as a “snapback.” The three countries, known collectively as the E3, are all parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which allowed for the resumption of sanctions that were suspended by the deal in case diplomacy with the Iranian regime to rein in its nuclear program did not yield a result. Trump walked away from the deal in 2018, during his first term in office, and has spent much of his second term thus far negotiating with (and bombing) Iran over its nuclear program.
The international sanctions, which have been suspended by the United Nations for the past decade, will now go back into effect in a little over a month unless Iran can stave them off with some eleventh-hour diplomacy in the meantime. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the snapback but reiterated that Washington remains open to continued engagement with Iran. “The United States appreciates the leadership of our E3 allies in this effort,” he said in a statement. “Over the coming weeks, we will work with them and other Members of the UN Security Council to successfully complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.”
Our FP colleague Keith Johnson has more on the E3 move and what it means.
Russia pummels Ukraine—again. The Russian military struck buildings used by European and British officials in Kyiv on Thursday, killing 21 people in its deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital since Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska earlier this month.
Moscow has repeatedly stymied negotiations for an end to the war since then, saying again on Wednesday that it would refuse any European troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force to ensure the country’s postwar security—a key demand of Zelensky, who met Trump along with several European leaders in Washington last Monday.
Snapshot
What Else We Wrote
Wondering why the U.S. government is now Intel’s biggest shareholder, after Trump signed a deal with the chipmaker’s CEO for a 10 percent stake worth $11 billion? Rishi has you covered.
Put on Your Radar
Sunday, Aug. 31: China hosts a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin.
Monday, Sept. 1: The United States celebrates Labor Day.
Wednesday, Sept. 3: Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Trump hosts Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House.
Quote of the Week
“This is literally the best day of my life.”
—Overheard at the Pentagon by the Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef, in reference to Taylor Swift’s engagement to Travis Kelce.
This Week’s Most Read
- Why the Donbas Matters to Putin So Much by John Haltiwanger
- Trump Has No Idea How to Do Diplomacy by Stephen M. Walt
- Passing the Baton in Europe by Emma Ashford
The post Trump’s Lethal Landscapers appeared first on Foreign Policy.
